ShoBox Friday Night Fights

IOWA CITY, IOWA—This was a battle of undefeated lightweights, two prospects who were fighting to establish themselves as contenders. The smooth boxing Sharif Bogere challenged the hard charging and heavy handed Francisco Contreras but first, undefeated Jermell Charlo wanted to show that he was ready for primetime among junior Middleweights against Francisco Santana.

Charlo preferred the outside as he boxed throughout the first two rounds but occasionally he went to the rope; allowing Santana to pound him briefly before Charlo escaped.At the end of the second round, both fighters exchanged punches off the ropes but Charlo managed to nail Santana with left hooks and a right uppercut.

Sharif Bogere

Charlo controlled the fight over the first half of this eight round fight, as he kept the distance and his movement allowed him to be elusive while avoiding getting hit.By the end of the fourth round, Charlo looked like he was hardly breathing and Santana ended the round by bull rushing Charlo but it was too late to affect scoring.

Starting in the fifth round, Santana jumped on Charlo with solid body shots and in the middle of the round, both fighter exchanged left hooks with Santana getting the best of if before Charlo nailed him with solid left jabs.Santana fought his best round up to this point in the fight but Charlo managed to nail some solid blow.

Santana managed to connect with a right hand that changed the round around in the sixth round as he staggered Charlo with a solid right.Santana attacked for the next thirty seconds but he proved ineffectual at finishing Charlo and Charlo managed to counter with some solid shots of his own.Santana finally found his grove in the sixth as he won the round easily.

Mysteriously, Santana started the seventh round by laying off Charlo and allowed Charlo to set the pace of the round. This allowed Charlo to catch his breath while winning the round.Santana played a waiting game and did not jump on his opponent in the final round in a fight that he was losing.Charlo won an easy decision as he boxed his way to victory.

In the first round in the main event, Contreras used his heights to set up his power punches as he kept the smaller Bogere off in a round that produced little fireworks.Bogere started the second round aggressive and kept the pressure on Contreras for the entire round, making Contreras uncomfortable.This continued in the third round as Bogere forced a street fight.Within a minute into the round, a Bogere right hand nailed Contreras who then turn away; allowing Bogere to hit Contreras on the shoulder but the first punch was enough to send Contreras down for the count. Bogere won a big fight as he kept his undefeated streak continue.

In the first bout, Charlo won an easy victory on the scorecard but his right hand was mostly missing in action as he spent most of the night jabbing and hooking.Against a more veteran opponent, Charlo will need to expand his arsenal and show more pop in his punches.

Bogere showed power as he stopped his opponent and Contreras ended up on the ground for several minutes before he was moved.